2003 Article Index

The first week of every month, Mass High Tech presents a roundup of local real estate transactions involving technology companies in New England.

In a complex deal, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has signed a 45,000-square-foot lease at 300 Third St. in Cambridge.

BY: Mark Cote With Greater Boston office vacancy rates hovering above 20 percent and many companies of all sizes and industries still downsizing, there are many opportunities for tenants seeking space as well as challenging times for tenants who have empty and excess space.

The problem is more severe for high tech companies that often leased more space than they actually needed and signed leases at the peak of the market.

In one of the largest subleasing assignments in Eastern Massachusetts, 260,000 sf of excess office space was taken off the market in a series of eight separate deals. The space at Riverside Center, which is located at 275 Grove St., is being subleased by Macromedia Inc. and the completion of the assignment by T3 Advisors represents $46 million in sublease income.

"Eighteen months ago we started subleasing and in this market, I never would have thought we'd dispose of all the space," says James Morgensen, vice president of real estate at Macromedia. He credits T3 Advisors as well as property owner Equity Office with ensuring that the deals went through.

The transaction--the largest life-science lease of the year--involved what the brokers term a "complex negotiation" among Alnylam, property owner Beal Cos. and Palm Inc., which held a lease on the space and agreed to terminate their lease on what will be the Alnylam portion of the property.

Roy Hirshland, president and CEO of T3 Advisors, represented Alnylam in the transaction while Michael Manzo, senior vice president of the Beal Cos., represented his firm.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has signed what is believed to be the largest lease by a life sciences company in Cambridge this year, taking 45,000 square feet at 300 Third St.

T3 Advisors LLC, a Waltham-based real estate firm, represented Alnylam in the deal.

Macromedia Inc. has finished subleasing 260,000 square feet of excess local office space in deals that will save the San Francisco software company roughly $46 million over the next several years.

"It's Macromedia's biggest overhead for of their worldwide real estate," said Mark Cote, a managing director at T3 Advisors LLC, a Waltham based real estate firm that represents Macromedia.

Mass High Tech presents a round-up of local real estate transactions involving technology companies in New England.

Privately held sentitO Networks is expanding its sales and development office from Chelmsford to Westford, having signed a two-year lease for 8,188 square feet of office space at 238 Littleton Road. T3 Advisors Advisors represented sentitO in the deal.

In one of the largest deals so far this year, locally based biotech start-up Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. is leasing 45,000 sf at 300 Third St. Roy Hirshland, president and CEO of T3 Advisors, represented Alnylam in the transaction. "We got our cake and ate it too," says Hirshland.

Represented by T3 Advisors, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., a hot Cambridge biotechnology company, is expected to sign a lease to take up to 45,000 square feet in an East Cambridge

Mark Cote, managing director of T3 Advisors, represented SentitO Networks and Bill Spound of Spound Development Associates LP was the property owner that brokered the deal.

sentitO Networks relocates and expands its sales and development office from Chelmsford to 238 Littleton Rd. in the Westford Regency Park. The Rockville, MD-based company signed a two-year lease for 8,188 sf of space.

T3 Represented Ember Corp., Mazu Networks, and 3rd Millennium.

"Real estate is very fluid. It's not like the stock market or other markets where you can look at the numbers and say this is the point where the pendulum swung," said Roy Hirshland, president and CEO of Waltham-based T3 Advisors, which works exclusively with tenants. "And even within submarkets, there may be exceptions, but overall I'd say we're right in the middle of a tenant's market."

Mazu Networks, a Cambridge-based provider of network intelligence and security solutions., announced a three-fold expansion of its business operations. Mazu has more than doubled the size of its headquarters facility in Cambridge, and has opened new sales and services offices in San Francisco and in the Washington, D.C. area.

"We are seeing for the first time ever built-out labs available for lease in major markets in the US," said Roy Hirshland, president and chief executive officer of T3 Advisors in Waltham, Mass. "Three years ago, they could not build enough labs to keep up with demand."

"I've been in this business for 15 years, and I've never seen a lab market that has softened as quickly or to the same extent," said Roy Hirshland, president and chief executive of T3 Advisors, a Waltham firm that advises technology and life-science companies on real estate transactions.

BY: Roy Hirshland & Mark Cote
The firm doesnÌt want to be "all things to all people". We want to provide strategic real estate advisory and brokerage services to "only technology" companies.

BY: Roy Hirshland & Greg Hoffmeister Real estate is often the second highest expense after payroll for technology companies, and thus, can have dramatic impact on the bottom line of your company.

BY: Greg Hoffmeister Real estate should support a companyÌs business plan and not become a long-term liability that negatively affects the bottom line. A successful real estate strategy is achieved through a well thought-out and properly executed plan.

With Waltham-based T3 Advisors LLC's help, Macromedia has subleased 160,000 square feet of space in the building. There's another 49,000 square feet to go, but who can complain, given how much Macromedia has subleased - at a savings of around $32 million over the remaining seven years on the lease?

Managing Directors, Mark Cote and Greg Hoffmeister advise Tatara Systems in relocating to 100 Nagog Park where it is taking 8,700 sf in a sublease deal.

"We subleased 165,000 square feet, and I'm absolutely confident we did not give space away," Hirshland said. "We were not the lowest cost alternative for these companies. We did not buy any deals."

Represented by T3's Managing Director, Mark Cote; Diligent Technologies Corp. is leasing 14,000 sf at 200 Crossing Blvd.

The company, which also has an office in Tel Aviv, Israel, says that it chose this site for its new headquarters due to its "prime location in the heart of the Massachusetts and storage technology beltway as well as its capacity to expand along with the continued growth of its business."

One out, one in. The bad news: Norwest Venture Partners is shutting down its Boston-area office at the Wellesley Office Park. The good news: Pequot Ventures is moving in.

Says Roy Hirshland, president of T3 Advisors, which handled the real estate deal: "We're delighted to help two clients achieve their objectives."

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